As I grew more experienced at my job, I submitted fewer and fewer CLs, with fewer lines. Eventually, I was just making config changes. You probably would have thought I wasn't very effective but the reality is the small number of changes I made were in exactly the right place at exactly the right time. I've seen other folks who are commit fiends and a lot of their code just didn't stand the test of time, or lacked good tests, or failed at scale, or were just copies of something elsewhere with the class names changed.
I reserve my greatest praise for those who delete code without visible regressions or increased complexity.
Personally, I agree with you. I work somewhat differently, but am highly effective.
I managed a team of very high-functioning C++ programmers, for one of the top imaging companies in the world, for 25 years. I kept employees for decades, and that’s no secret. I mention it frequently, here, and my entire career is an open book. I've been an active software engineer for over 35 years, and shipping software, that entire time.
There's a [vanishingly small, I know] chance that I used a couple more techniques than simply counting CIs.
I reserve my greatest praise for those who delete code without visible regressions or increased complexity.